The Aurelian Crusade
by Haegr
Summary: A re-telling of the events of Dawn of War 2 more fluff wise and accurately than in the official book. Commander Azarius and a small Blood Ravens strike force has to save their recruiting worlds from the alien. Rated Teen for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: En route to Calderis, aboard the Strike Cruiser Armageddon**.

On the outer edges of the Calderis system, where no ork attack craft would ever go, space and time became distored. At first there was nothing, save for a ripple upon the Warp, barely perceptible to anyone but a Navigator.  
A few hours later it became apparent that something was amiss, and an unnatural purplish glow seeped into space from the unreality of the Immaterium. Something was happening that was beyond the graps of most mortal creatures.  
The fabric of reality twisted, and suddenly the mad, purplish black abyss of the Warp exploded into Realspace.

Twisted daemons covered in eyes, tentacles and slavering orifices howled with insane voices as they burned in the coldness of space, their forms twisting into wierd dimensions and disintegrating as the laws of Nature resisted the taint of the Warp.  
The blunt prow of a starship burst forth from the depthless abyss of nightmare, a reassuringly sane sight in the wake of such madness. Its hull was deep red, intricatly carved with golden eagles, winged skulls and black ravens inlaid with ruby drops of blood. Gargolye-encrused turrets scanned the space around the Warp rift, looking for any would-be attacker.

The bridge of the heavy strike cruiser Armageddon was wrought into the likeness of a temple, carved with golden images of the Divine Emperor, God of Humanity and Father of the Astartes. False stained glass windows depicted ancient heroes of the Blood Ravens Chapters while incense gathered at the top of the great chamber.  
The brige was filled with rows of cogitator stacks crewed by Chapter Serfs, and servitor stations were embedded in the walls. Elite Serf storm trooper squads and weapon servitors patrolled between gothic columns covered in prayer strips, ever vigilant even in this most secure of spaces.

The great sealed portals to the main elevator opened as Commander Azarius strode into the gloomy bridge lit only by the holographic interfaces and display monitors. Holographic torches burned with a red flame, proclaiming the battle stations every ship enforced while travelling trough the Warp.  
His razor keen eyes could see as easily as if it were daylight, and he could have easily read the name tag of a serf a hundred meters away if he wanted to.  
Seated on the command throne was Martellus, Techmarine assigned to the 4th company strike force heading for Calderis. His mechandendrites were meshed with the throne, allowing him to directly interface with the Machine spirit of the revered vessel.

"Greetings, commander. Praised be the Omnissiah, we emerged from the Warp without any complications. Our tech augurs detect no vessel in our direct vicinity, but from the fragmented data we are getting from Calderis suggest that a few smaller ork raiding vessels remain in high orbit. I'll summon the system map for you."  
The air before the throne shimmered, and the map of the Calderis system appeared. The Armageddon was a little red icon on the outer edges of the system, while the ork ships around Calderis were green dots representing unknown contact. The range was too great for any positive indication on their design, save that they were escort sized.

"Praise be the Emperor, Brother Martellus. It seems that the greenskin fleet is a splinter from a larger raiding party. What are the chances of favourable outcome in a long-range space battle?" Azarius was a competent commander for his age and knew well the fearsome array of lances, bombardment cannons and weapon batteries that covered most of the ship, but none knew machines better than a priest of the Machine God.

"98,274 per cent chance that our shields will be impervious to their attacks. It will take us seventeen hours to reach effective weapons range." Even with the mechanical voice of the Techmarine, it was clear that he was proud of such a mighty machine. Azarius supressed a smile, for he could already picture the burning wrecks of the ork ships disintegrating in the nuclear firestorms unleashed by the massive broadside cannons of the Armageddon.  
"Take us into maximum combat range. We should not allow the orks close to our ship. With their wretched tech-heresy might teleport onboard. I shall join my brothers in the rites of battle. Death to the xenos!" He made the sign of the Machine to Martellus, who made the sign of the Aquila in return.  
"The wretches shall die today, commander." Azarius turned around and headed for the elevator, nodding to a nearby squad Serf troopers who bowed low to their master in return.

**** Note : Sorry for the title, but somehow the system does not allows me to make it more separate for unknown reasons. ****


	2. Chapter 2

**Space Battle in orbit of Calderis, First day of the Aurelian Crusade.**

Sergeant Tarkus muttered the Litany against Corrosion as he loaded the Unforgiving Truth, his scoped Bolter and sprinkled it with Sacred Unguents. The Armageddon was closing on the ork fleet, and his Tactical Squad was preparing for battle. Invictus was checking his bolter, Asmodeus was muttering the Forty-seventh Chatechism of Hatred while Vindictus testing the edge of his knife on one of the Tau bones he gathered on Kronus.  
Julius was running a system analysis on his plasma gun to be sure that its plasma containment fields worked properly and Caedus was chanting the Litany of Purgation while he filled the tank of his flamer with blessed promethium mixed with holy incense. Tarkus made the sign of the Aquila, content knowing that his squad would be ready hours before the ork ships would even spot the cruiser.

Azarius stood on the bridge once more, listening to the hymnals blaring from voxcasters while studying the tactical display. The Armageddon was three million kilometers away from the nearest ork ship, an ork Ravager torpedo boat.  
There were two more Savage Gunships, heavy short ranged attack escorts, and four Onslaught general purpose attack ships around Calderis. It seemed a too small fleet to carry a large offensive, even if the large Feral ork population was considered. The Armageddon turned to present its heavily armored Starboard broadside weaponry at the orks.

"Lances and torpedoes are at optimum range, Broadside and Bombardment cannons are at maximum effective range, Commander." Azarius considered his options carefully. While the Lances would hit the target in ten seconds, most Broadside guns and the Bombardment cannons would be too inaccurate. He wanted the ork ships burned, not half of Calderis reduced to ash by missing fusion warheads and plasma.

"Target the Ravager with the Lances and Savage Two with Starboard Broadside Laser batteries. Target the Onslaughts One and Four with the rest of the Starboard weapon batteries. Than change course and aim the prow at Savage One and Onslaught Two and fire two Plasma torpedoes.  
The Bombardment cannons will finish of the Onslaught Three at close range. Cleanse the xenos, Brother Martellus!" Martellus initated the combat plan he had already uploaded to the Machine Spirit of the Armageddon with a single tought impulse. "Lances firing in 3 seconds. Purge the alien!"

The Quad Lance cannons on the Armageddon rotated to aim at the ork ship as their capacitators charged with titanic energies. Servitors sprincled Cooling Libation on overheating conduits, and Tech Adepts monitored the weapon system chanting the Hymn of Aiming. The turret's War Spirit indicated a target lock on the ork heresy, and the Senior Tech priest initiated the firing sequence.

Blinding beams of unbearably white light shot forth towards the enemy and reached the doomed ork ship in a matter of seconds. The ork shields collapsed instantly under such a devastating hail of energy, and a microsecond later the ork ship was speared on lances of white light, its ammunition and reactor detonating in a 20 kilometer wide fireball.

The lance beams continued and glanced the upper atmopshere of Calderis, causing massive auroras but thankfully no actual damage as the beams of light disappeared into the inter-system space where they would finally loose cohesion in a few light years if they didn't hit anything again. Molten debris started raining down on Calderis, but the fragments were small, causing no real damage to the surface.

The broadside laser cannons opened up just as the first ork ship exploded. Far less powerful than lances, these cannons compensated for their lighter damage in a much better rate of fire.  
Constant steams of laser beams fired in precise volleys connected the Armageddon to the Savage gunship.  
In 20 seconds the shields of the Gunship failed under the constant barrage, and the laser beams quickly melted thin holes into the ork ship's hulls. With every second more and more systems became disabled, and soon the Savage was a blazing wreck venting burning air while it was slowly torn apart by inernal fires set off by the laser beams.

The ork captains started to react with admirable speed considering they were greenskins, and headed straight for the cruiser. The ork ships opened fire, but still hundreds of thousands of kilometers separated them from the Armageddon, and their shots missed the cruiser by hundreds of kilometers.

The Armageddon opened up with its mass accelerators and plasma batteries on the Onslaughts designated One and Four, raining nuclear and plasma fire upon the closing ork ships. The greenskins were closing in fast, and their weapon fire started to hit the shields of the Armageddon.  
The Onslaughts would not die without a fight. Their forward cannons blazed high calibre shells larger than a titan at the cruiser with an alarming rate of fire.

However the Strike Cruiser outclassed any escort in terms of firepower and defense. Its broadside batteries started to become increasingly accurate as the orks closed in.  
Onslaught One was the first to explode, as a volley of fusion warheads punched their way trough its armour and exploded its reactor core. With only one target left, the other ork escort did not last long, and it was melted into a three kilometers long lump of fused metal in twenty seconds.

Martellus brought the front of the Armageddon to face the remaining Savage and the Onslaught close to it. Two torpedoes shot forward from the launch tubes on the front of the blunt prow, gaining speed rapidly. The Onslaught was hit in the prow and disappeared in a gigantic fireball of fusion fire a hundred kilometers in diamater.

A second explosion went up instantly as the second torpedo exploded, still a few dozen kilometers from the ork ship. It must have somehow shot it down and survived the impact. However the shockwave of plasma radiating from the detonation still disabled its shields and baffled its tech-sensors, or whatever it possessed instead of them.

The surviving Onslaught was now only a few hundred kiloemters away, an optimum range for its weapons. But an optimal weapons range for the Bombardment cannons too. A pair of super-heavy mass accelerators firing armour piercing shells designated to pierce heavy armour at close range or cracking the mantle of a planet.  
"It is time to end this!" Pronounced Martellus as he fired the Bombardment cannons. The first shell shattered the shields of the Onslaught, and blew off the prow. The second shell hit the mid section of the ork secort, and blew it in two.

Now the Armageddon could approach Calderis safely, with its smaller defense turrets and lesser broadside guns destroying the Onslaught's wreckage before it entered the atmosphere of Calderis. The Bombardment cannons were reloaded, and the last Savage Gunship was blown apart before it could recover, and it blew up in a satisfactory fireball.

The enhanced eyes of Azarius could make out the burned ork bodies falling to the surface of Calderis like green meteorites. His hearts were filled with savage glee. Thousands of aliens were already dead or burning alive as they plummeted to the surface, and he hadn't even drew his sword yet. Martellus suddenly changed his bearing, as if listening to a silent voice heard only by him.

"Captain Thule needs our aid, commander. He and most of the Scouts are trapped by a large mob of orks near Argus." The good mood of Azarius turned to anger instantly. He opened his vox-link "Squad Tarkus, prepare for Drop Pod insertion! We will reinforce Captain Thule on the surface!" He started running to the Elevators which would take him swiftly to the Drop bays. He would see to that the ork scum will pay dearly in pain and blood for defiling their recruiting world and threatening the young Initiates.


	3. Chapter 3

**Relief drop to the surface of Calderis, First day of the Aurelian Crusade  
**

The Drop bays of the Armageddon were filled with hundreds of servitors chanting the Blessing of the Warrior and inspecting that everything was in order. Suddenly the search stopped, as the Magos in charge became satisfied with the condition of the chamber.  
"Brothers, the orks want to take our worlds! Lets show those degenerates the wrath of the Emperor! Captain Thule and the Initiates are currently besieged by a large swarm of orks. We need to reinforce their position and drive the filth back!" Azarius called out, as Squad Tarkus boarded the Drop pod with him.  
Tarkus, devout and disciplined, prayed to the God Emperor and soon all his brothers joined in as the Drop pod was readied for launch.

The acceleration hit them suddenly as the launch tube magnetically accelerated the Drop Pod and sent it blazing towards the surface of Calderis. The pod cut trough the atmosphere within seconds, and the motors kicked in the last second to slow down their landing.  
The Drop pod still hit the ground with a speed that would have curshed anything inside to bloody jelly, except Astartes. The sides of the pod opened like the petals of a large seed, and the Marines stepped out into into the molten glass, their boots sinking into the sticky material impervious to its heat.

Their autosenes instantly took in the situation as the battle brothers formed up in less than a second and advanced towards the position of Captain Thule. "Orks, how can they breath in their own filthy stench?" exclaimed Vindictus. "Don't worry brother, they'll smell like barbeque soon enough! Nothing smells better than Promethium in the morning!" retorted Brother Caedus, who was considered a pyromaniac by anyone outside the Salamanders Chapter.  
"Less talk, more killing!" growled Asmodeus, who took a dim view of any chatter. "Prepare Brothers, the Emperor will punish the orks for their sins" decreed Tarkus as the Marines marched in the valley towards the orks. The sides of the valley were unclimbable, so at least they had the orks confined in to the valley where they could not bring all their numbers to bear at them.

Over the vox Captain Thule was rallying the Scouts:"Scouts, stay in cover! Kill the orks that are in the open!" gunfire and static flooded the channel "Welcome Commander. This is Captain Davian Thule in command here on Calderis. We are battleing the orks that threaten this world. You have dropped right into the combat zone. I am north of you with several squads of our Initiates. We are under heavy fire and loosing control of our flanks. Move north and provide support." The marines redoubled their pace towards the enemy.

"By my fury they shall know the Emperor's name!" roared Azarius as the first greenskins came into sight. He drew Ardent Wrath and the disruption field crackled into life like bound lightning. These orks were almost completely feral, armed with only primitve weaponry. Most likely their more developed fellows pushed them back to act as a rearguard. Azarius charged, not wanting to waste bolter shells on these vermin.  
The orks were surprised, but had courage. They tried to charge him, but they were too slow. He was upon them like the wrath of the Emperor Himself, his power sword slashing left and right, killing with every strike. A few orks managed to hit him, but their crude swords and axes bounced off his armour uselessly.

Azarius slashed left, opening up a greenskin from neck to groin, and punched another in the face with his left fist. The orks skull disintegrated like a melon hit by hammer, bone and brain fragments flying everywhere. He stabbed forward and impaled two orks at once, their flesh dissolving upon touching his blade.  
Than he felt an impact upon his jetpack armour, stronger than rain but weaker than firearms. It took him a split second to figure it out. The orks were shooting arrows at him, which only managed to kill a few of their kin in the melee.

Brother Tarkus and his Tactical squad advanced and drew their knives. There was no sense in wasting ammunition. "For the Emperor!" shouted Tarkus as he crushed an orks skull with his boltgun, and simultaneously opened the neck of another with his knife. Julius kicked an ork in the groin and sent it crashing backwards into its kin.  
Caedus was merrily stabbing orks and crushing necks with his other hand. Invictus slashed and stabbed, felling orks with every movement. He seemed unstoppable until a large Chainaxe almost decapitated him. Only his superhuman reflexes saved him, the gigantic chainaxe would have cut trough even Astartes neck armour and reinforced vertebrea instantly.

A nob, heavily armed and armoured, screaming "WAAAAAAGH!" charged into the melee. He must have come to investigate the disturbance, and suddenly Squad Tarkus was on the defence, manoevering away from the nob, bringing their bolters to bear.  
However the nob was not only many times stronger, but also much faster than the ferals, and he grabbed Invistus by the neck and held him up, chainaxe raised high.

Tarkus aimed carefully and shot as fast as only Space Marines can. The orks hand exploded and the Chainaxe dropped. Invitus was slashing the orks other hand, trying to sever its tendons. Vincitus aimed his bolter and put a round trough the orks skull. Half of its head gone, but the nob still did not die instantly.  
However its grip lessened, and Invictus slid free. He roared in hate and kicked the ork onto the ground and stomped repeatedly on its head. "Calm your zeal, brother!" Snapped Tarkus, as the marines finished off the few orks who escaped the wrath of Azarius.

The marines ran and turned to see the Scout training grounds, where Captain Thule was leading the Scouts in defense of an earthworks with a few turrets, killing orks with his heavy bolter. The orks here were not feral, but just as fierce. Shootas spat a torrent of lead, slowly but inexorably cracking the barricades apart, but the Scouts still held at the moment, but not for long. "The orks ahead of you are trying to outflank us, eleminate them!" ordered Captain Thule.

In a few seconds two hundred orks forgot all about flanking and charged screaming "WAAAAAAGH!" towards squad Tarkus. The marines took cover, more to hinder the charge of the orks than to hide from their weapon fire,a nd without a word being said, every marine except Caedus opened fire.  
Ork heads and torsos exploded into mists of blood and gore as the Astartes laid down supressing fire with skill and accuracy as only Space marines could, killing with every shot. Heads popped, chests exploded as each of the bolter shells found their deadly mark .  
Julius sent bolts of superheated plasma at the orks, sublimating three or four into gas and ash with every shot, keeping his rate of fire low not to overheat his gun.

Azarius leveled his bolt pistol and aimed, hitting a nob square in the forehead from a hundred meters. It topled and the orks around him lost some of their momentum. He fired again and again, exploding tusk filled faces into gory mess until his pistol ran dry.  
He swiftly holstered it, and jumped out from cover, racing towards the orks. "Fury and Zeal!" He cried and parried a choppa wielding ork, cutting through the weapon and wielder with a flicker of his blade. He ducked the wild swing of the next ork and kicked its left knee into ruin, and stomped on its head as it fell. He lashed out in a great circular swing, cutting those greenskins apart who were trying to bring him to the ground with their numbers. He chopped off limbs, punched through chests and cleaved torsos in half.

The dark red blood of the orks turned the sand around him into mud, but he strode on relentlessly, shoota fire pinging off his armour. A greenskin fired a burna into the melee, killing a score of its fellows and burning off the Purity seals of Azarius's armour.  
He charged straight to the Burna boy in fury, trampling down orks and crushing them into paste under his ceramite boots. The fool would pay for insulting him! He cut down any ork who dared to bar his way and shot out his left hand, gripping the burna's neck and crushing his spine.  
He grasped the flamer from its hands as it fell, and triggered it at the orks around him. The orks caught fire and burned, and most them started rolling in the sand, trying to put out the fire. Azarius cut down those which danced wildly in pain with his swords and stamped on those which rolled on the ground, braking necks and backs with every kick.

As the orks neared the Tactical marines, Caedus opened up with his flamer. A huge cone of white hot fire spread forwards, incinerating more than fifty orks instantly. The blazing promethium struck to their flesh and reduced them to ashes in less than three seconds, melting their wargear and cooking off ammunition. The sudden inferno stopped the charge for a few seconds, more than enough time for the marines to shoot most of the orks in the head.

The way was clear towards the left flank of main ork force, at least five hundred strong. "Tactical advance Omega pattern, formation Purgatus!" ordered Tarkus and the Veteran brothers spread out into a speartip with Azarius taking point, followed by Caedus in the front.  
The Astartes advanced, firing more accurately on the run than a human sniper would fire from cover.  
Their boltguns were linked to their minds, weapon and warrior becoming one, a holy instrument of the Emperor's Retribution. Scores of orks fell, and slowly it dawned on the greenskins that they were under attack from two fronts. They replied with the mindless enthusiasm of their kind, some charging towards the new attackers while others continued towards the Scouts. Due to the peculiar nature of the WAAAGH, the orks did not lost any momentum, despite the haphazard change of tactics.

"I'ze gonna tear off ya ead ya umie skum!" roared a nob as it came straight towards Azarius, a power Claw snapping in its hand and its bolta kicking up the dirt near his feet. "Die, alien!" answered Azarius and met the power claw with his sword. Lethal energies danced around the blades as they collided, and both combatants staggered back a little from the impact.  
Azarius stabbed forwards, but the ork swiped his blade away with its klaw. It tried to backhand him with the same move, but Azarius was faster and dodged the blow. He fainted right and slashed left, trying to confuse his opponent, but the nob was cunning and had nasty tricks of its own.  
It parried his strike and tried to club him with its gun. Azarius tried to evade, but the blow still hit his shoulder pad, knocking him off his feet. The ork kicked sand on his helmet as he rolled clear and took something from his belt, gleefully unaware that it did not effect its autosenes. "Sleepy, iz ya humie? Got sumfink in ya eyez?" it chuckled, trying to grab him with his deadly claws.  
Azarius sprang to his feet and thrust his blade into the orks weapon, and the ork trapped the blade of his power swords in its power claw, immobilizing his sword arm, but leaving its body wide open. Azarius threw the combat knife he grabbed while rolling, and the ork's bravado became a gurgle as the blade punched through its neck and vertebrae.

Tarkus shot his last shell and an ork with a burna exploaded. He changed magazine in a second, and looked around, taking in the whole fight instantly. The orks had become less focused as the nob leading them fell, but he could already see other big ones trying to rally the smaller ones.  
He silently thanked the Emperor that the greenskin officers were at least a head taller than their underlings. It helped so much when it came to shooting them in the head.  
His brothers were killing orks with a gratifying speed, and the scouts could now held their own against the orks threatening them.  
Invictus was still furious at the orks, his hate only growing as he killed. A spray of shots from a big shoota pierced the joint of Vindictus's left arm. The wound was not serius, and the marine was more concerned about the orks' stench getting in his armour, if his cursing of the greenskins was any indication. Asmodeus was chanting the litanies of Alien Slaying as he shot them to death, giving praises to the Emperor for giving him such a righteous duty.  
Julius had to holster his plasma gun, and now he was stabbing and hacking the orks with his knife and a borrowed choppa. Caedus was merry, because the ork mass was the best enviroment for his beloved flamer. He killed dozens with each burst and the ork horde was melting like snow in boiling oil.

Captain Thule fired disciplined volleys of heavy bolter shells into the orks, careful not to hit any marine in the dense fighting. The morale of the orks was diminishing rapidly, and the orks started yelling "Letz get outta ere! Leg it!". Suddenly the remains of the mob were retreating, but that suited the Captain fine. There was no way they could outrun bolter shells, and in five seconds every one of them was dead.  
"Well fought, commander, but the greenskins will not give us much time before they attack again! I need you and Sergeant Tarkus to take charge of driving the orks back. Move up to the ruins east of here and prepare to repel the next ork wave!

The brothers formed up into the spearhead again and quickly reached the ruined walls. The valley turned to the left where a mine entrance had been taken by orks. The marines heard the roaring sound of ork vehicle engines and a truck suddenly burst through the metal fence and an ork manning a nasty looking kustom shoota opened fire.  
"Ork vehicle! Stay in cover, that truck has a heavy gun!". A smaller wave of a dozen orks jumped off it, only to be cut down by the marines' bolter fire. "More shooting, less dying you gitz!" shouted a cyborg mek from the trukk with oddly accurate Gothic. Tarkus snapped a shot at the leader, but a force field shimmered into existence and his bolt exploded harmlessly. Julius fired his plasma gun and melted most of the rear troop compartement, unfortunatly not cooking off anything.  
"Blaaargh! Go get me some more boyz! And theze humiez has spooken up me trukk! back through da tunnel!" The ork driver desperately reversed the trukk and sped towards the cave entrance of the mine crushing any of its fellows that got in the way.

A hundred and some fifty strong ork mob started charging towards the marines shouting "Get em boyz! Shoot, chop, shoot, chop!" and similar warcries, uncaring of how many orks already died at the enemy's hand. "Microgrenades!" called Tarkus, and all Tactical marines instantly took two small egg shaped frag grenades from their dispensers. They set them to one second and threw them at the orks with their superhuman strenght.  
The frag microgrenades were designed against light infantry, and each shredded at least five orks with their monomolecular sharp fragments.  
Half of the orks died or were incapacitated, and the Marines concentrated their fire on those which escaped the grenades.  
Azarius emerged from cover and killed any ork that came too close, and in seconds only the orks groaning on the ground with limbs missing were alive, and the marines butchered them with their knives, having no mercy because they knew none.

"Well done, commander." came the voice of Captain Thule over the vox. "Those orks have opened a way through the hills somehow. Move forward and seal it!"  
The strike force advanced once more and the cave entrance came into view "More orks, and lots of cover to use on our approach!" stated Tarkus, and the marines quickly moved into cover, spraying the orks with controlled bursts of bolter fire. "Its almost like Fistmas! My mother always took me to heretic burning on holidays." quipped Caedus as he unleashed another wave of flames towards the orks. They were pressed together in the confined area and provided the ideal target for him.  
"Keep the vox clear." reminded him Tarkus, although he could agree with him that this was satisfying. The orks were almost making it too easy, but it never payed to underestimate your enemy. Another wave of thirty orks appeared from the left, and Azarius ran towards them with full speed. "Come and die on my blade!" he roared as he charged.

He smashed into the greenskins with his sword cleaving a mighty arc before him, felling five orks instantly. Azarius cut his way through the greenskins without slowing down, smashing crates apart and crushing orks underfoot.  
Suddenly heavy shootas poked out of the windows of the nearby guard tower, and the orks inside opened fire with gleeful shouts of "DAKKA DAKKA!", uncaring whenever they hit the commander, or their own.

"Commander, the orks are using that tower to guard the facility. My squad can take them out with a grenade!" said Tarkus, and Azarius willed and his armor pinged "Yes" to the Sergeant.  
Tarkus clipped a heavy Frag grenade from his belt, and threw it into the stubby tower. It flew unerring into a window in the middle, behind an ork gunner. After a split second the tower shattered into a pile of debris, spraying metal sharpnel and burned ork remains at the Astartes. Heavy frag grenades were fist sized high explosives, intended to take out most kinds of infantry.

"The greenskins are clearly using that mine as a passage, commander. Seal that entrance by any means necessary!" came the order of Captain Thule, who was observing the progress through the relayed data from the sensors of the Armageddon. "The orks have stacked fuel and ordenance in the cave mouth, Commander. A few krak microgrenades will bring it down." proposed Tarkus, and Azarius nodded.

Krak microgrenades were useful against light vehicles and heavy infantry, but they were equally good at blowing up rocks and ammunition. Every marine took out two from their dispensers, and hurled them into the cavemouth in a wide spread, and took cover.  
The grenades detonated all at once and the ammunition followed instantly, causing the whole area to shudder like a small earthquake.  
The walls of the entrance cracked, and the whole top of the cavern came crashing down, sealing the tunnel for good.

"Good work, Space Marines. The greenskins will not be using that passage any time soon." said Captain Thule.  
"But the leader managed to escape through the tunnel before we could kill him! That was our chance to cut this invasion off at the head." pointed out Tarkus.  
"He will show himself again, Tarkus. And when he does, we shall be ready! Thunderhawks are on route, prepare for extraction!" Captain Thule was pleased that the Initiates survived, and the escape of one lousy greenskin could not spoil the death of hundreds of others.

As the Astartes waited for battle, Tarkus lead them in prayer to thank Him on Earth. Although the Blood Ravens did not held the Emperor as the omnipotent and distant god he was viewed by the mortal humans of the Imperium, they did not deny his divinity either. While the Emperor was a being of divine power more than equal of any other god, he was also the greatest and most shining example of Mankind, a person perfect in every aspect and deed.  
The Blood Ravens prayed to their ancestral and divine father, asking him to give them strength to defend their recruiting worlds so they might continue saving Humanity in the millenia to come in His Holy Name.


	4. Chapter 4

Aboard Strike Cruiser Armageddon, First day of the Aurelian Crusade

"Welcome aboard Strike Cruiser Armageddon, Commander. " Captain Thule formally greeted Azarius on the bridge once the Marines were aboard the Strike Cruiser, who bowed respectfully in return.  
They were standing at tactical ground command, which sat in smaller chapel situated in the rear-right part of the great chamber. Holographic tables and liquid crystal monitor displays took up most of the walls and tables. There were no chairs, as Astartes could easily stand for weeks without even moving.  
Small mechanical two-headed Eagles and Ravens fluttered between the archways silently, incense smoking from brass censers dangling from chains held in their beaks. Imperial Hymnals of Duty and Obediance were constantly broadcasted on a low power setting not to distort orders.

"Calderis is currently facing a massive ork invasion that threatens to spill over the entire sector." He indicated a map which displayed the surface of Calderis, with far too much green stains on it for the Marines' liking.  
"Urgent distress calls are coming in from other nearby sectors, but we must concentrate our efforts here. I need you to take command of an assault that stalled on the surface below. Drop to the point marked on the planet map and start pushing into the orks' flank."  
Thule pointed at another holomap which was showing another valley with the icons of a Scout and Devastator squads in battle. "Yes, my lord." saluted Azarius and quickly strode off towards the elevator which took him to the monorail towards the Drop Bays of the Armageddon.

On route to the Drop Bays Azarius recalled the basic historical and most geographic data what the indoctrination placed in his brain about Calderis. It was a desert world filled with oceans of sand and long valleys of sandstone, first conquered by a veteran Imperial Guard regiment led by General Argus Calder thousands of years ago.  
The population had a problem with feral ork infestation which resulted in the local population becoming a hardened warrior people. He knew that most Blood Ravens came from Calderis now that Cyrene was reduced to an asteroid field.

Although Azarius was orignally born on Holy Terra itself, his family was relocated to Typhoon after his father was assassinated as the result of the usual backstabbing and scheming that were the hallmarks of Imperial aristocracy.  
Soon after the tragic events he used his rage and hatred to win his place as a Blood Ravens neophyte, brutally killing the other competitors in the arena during the Blood Trials.

The vox link activated and the voice of Captain Thule was relayed into his auto-senses by the cogitator of his armour. "The greenskins have taken over a hamlet outside Argus. This hamlet sits on a vital supply route, and all of Calderis could fall if we do not dislodge them."  
Azarius was less than happy at the news. He considered Calderis as a world of extreme importance, despite the fact that had never ever saw it before. It was a planet that belonged to the Chapter. That was all that mattered.  
"Sergeant Avitus and his Devastator Space Marines held the hamlet alone, but they were finally overwhelmed. You must retake the hamlet and drive the orks back! To aid in this, I am assigning Sergeant Cyrus and his squad of Scouts to your command. His infiltration expertise should prove invaluable."

As the drop pod was readied for launch, Azarius silently mouthed the words of the Inspirational Verse of Hatred, which he read in the Codex of Imperial Hymnals, Volume IV. "_Hate! Hate! Hate! An emotion as pure as it is deep! Hate! Hate! Hate! Let it flow, let it run free!_ " The words always filled his hearts with loathing and an urge to kill and maim until all aliens and traitors were dead.

On the surface of Calderis

Sergeant Cyrus and his five Scouts crept silently towards the orks. Their cameleoline cloaks created a cloaking field which melted them into their surroundings as they approached their prey, two greenskins patrolling, if that world could be used in the case of the orks who were shooting randomly at the local wildlife and bickering constantly.  
"Bah itz borin ere! We sould be out stompin umiez, like we did to da town!" complained the slightly bigger one. Cyrus and Severus was now almost upon the orks, combat knives drawn. "Wait, did ya hear sumfink?" turned around the smaller one, and Cyrus stabbed forward with his knife, thrusting the blade into the greenskins brain through its forehead.  
Severus was upon the second one at once, his knife slicing its throat. The greenskin tried to grab him, but the initiate ducked low and stabbed his knife repeatedly into the ork's back, piercing the heart and lungs until it fell to the ground with blood flowing down its chest.

"Cyrus to Armageddon. In position." reported Cyrus. A drop pod slammed into the ground nearby, and Azarius emerged from the dust, followed by Squad Tarkus. The Astartes exchanged silent and short greetings, and the voice of Captain Thule came over the vox "Space Marines, heartening news. Avitus, the squad leader who defended the hamlet, is still alive. The orks incapacitated him but apparently could not finish the job."  
"Avitus is too stubborn to die." added Cyrus. "So it would seem, Cyrus." answered the Captain. "An ork guard position stands between you and Sergeant Avitus. Approach with stealth and eliminate the greenskins." Cyrus nodded "Understood." The din of gunfire intensified from the ork position. There was definitely some trouble there.

The rest of the ork patrol of twenty-four greenskins choose this moment to stumble into the Marines' position, but the Tactical and Scout squads quickly shot them to pieces. The greenskins only outnumbered the marines by two to one, and they all died in two seconds.  
The marines approached the ork position, peeking from the cover of huge boulders to see a local tower made from sandstone bricks filled with greenskins who were firing at another nearby pile of boulders. Other ork mobs nearby were also shooting at that peculiar pile of rocks. Ork bodies, badly mangled or burned littered the ground in the hundrends.  
"Bring down that guard tower, Cyrus." ordered Captain Thule. Cyrus and his squad activated their camo cloaks and slipped off silently towards another nearby set of huge rocks next to the tower. They moved so silently that only the hyper-enhanced sensors and senses of the Astartes could pick out their slightly shimmering outlines and the sounds of their faint breathing and the twin beating of their hearts.

"A demolition charge will bring that tower down." sub-vocalised Cyrus. He climbed to the top of the nearest rock, then climbed down again, and took out a big pack of high explosives from his backpack. He lobbed it over the boulders and it flew trough the air for fifty meters, until it hit the nearest window of the tower.  
A second later it exploded, vaporising most of the tower and sending the remaining stone fragments into nearby ork mobs, which scattered and ran away as fast as they could. "Ork guards eliminated." reported Cyrus. "Excellent work, Cyrus. Avitus's position is on your tactical display. Revive him so that he may join your attack." answered Captain Thule.

To Azarius's complete lack of surprise, the position of Avitus turned out to be the huge pile of rocks which the orks kept shooting. The pile of dead orks grew noticeably thicker on the ground as the Marines approached the place. "Thank the Emperor, Commander. We tought the orks would finally overrun us!" came the voice of a Marine from the rocks.  
The other side of the rock pile was a slaughterhouse, with dead orks everywhere, some mangled with bare hands, other smashed with heavy weaponry.  
The speaker turned out to be Brother Allectus, whose Lascannon was the only functioning weapon due to the fact that it was charged by a reactor and had no conventional ammuniton. He had many superficial injuries but nothing serious.

Tiberius, the marine with the Plasma Cannon was in a bad shape, with a stomach pierced by an ork axe. The rocketeer, Hadrius was almost untouched, his missile launcher covered in gore after he used it as huge club to batter orks senseless. Lucanus was limping and using his Heavy bolter as a crutch after a Greenskin hamstrung him.  
Avitus was unconscious, his helmet ruined and his chestplate perforated in battle against Flash Gitz who somehow managed to flank the Devastators. Avitus killed them all, but he fainted soon after and his brothers took him into the cover of the boulders, and continued to bombard the orks until their weaponry ran dry.  
Then they sheltered behind the rocks and killed everything that approached them. The orks apparently did not seem to realise that even a heavy weapon was a dreadful instrument of blunt trauma, if wielded by an Astartes.

Squad Tarkus secured the perimeter and the Scouts took out a Teleporter relay from the drop pod and began to set it up near the ruins of the tower. Azarius and Cyrus saw to the wounds of Avitus while Tarkus oversaw the preparations. The other Devastators were able to tend to their own wounds without any help.  
They covered Avitus's armour in repair cement and injected a huge array of stimulants and blood packs into the medication ports in his armours backpack.  
"Damn orks found another pass through the hills!" Avitus groaned as a greeting after Azarius administered another large dose of stimulants to his bloodstream.  
"Set up the relay beacon commander, and we can deploy the necessary supplies to reinforce your squads!" instructed Captain Thule.

In five minutes the Devastators were in battle-worthy condition and every marine had replenished their ammunition.  
"Excellent, Avitus and his Devastator squad are back to full strenght! Now push into the hamlet and eliminate those orks, commander!" Captain Thule ordered.  
The strike force moved out, and after two minutes of running they encountered a barricade wall. A dozen Shoota Boyz were busy looting a nearby hut, until Caedus burned it out with a burst of his flamer.

In a tumult of roaring green faces a tide of five hundred orks charged the barricade, and the Astartes opened fire. "DIE, all of you, DIE!" roared Avitus as he scythed down dozens of orks in every second with his heavy bolter, his face a mask of rage and hate.  
Hadrius launched Frag missiles into the mobs, each explosion shredding at least fourty greenskin into bloody chunks of meat and sending dozens more flying into the air.  
Tiberius unleashed the fury of his plasma cannon, sending blazing balls of superheated plasma into the ranks of greenskins. Wherever the huge bolts of plasma ruptured, sand and ork bodies sublimated into gas and ashes as the white hot fire enveloped them, leaving only huge craters of molten glass.  
Lucanus fired volley after volley of fist sized bolter shells into the orks, causing chests to explode into gory ruin. Allectus used his lascannon to take out the nobz and Lootas, and lances of light burned through ranks of orks with each shot.  
Squad Tarkus was firing into the ork ranks, while Caedus torched any ork that got too close. Cyrus and Decius were using their sniper rifles to kill the ork Tankbuztas, blowing their rokkits up with every shot. Varius and Tacitus were adding their bolters to the general onslaught, while Flavius and Severus used their shotguns to kill any closing orks who Caedus somehow missed to burn.

The ork horde was broken in a hundred and nine seconds, and two dozen orks managed to flee towards the hamlet. "Those orks are turning tail!" growled Avitus in contempt.  
"They could be going for help, stay alert!" advised Tarkus. As the Marines followed the orks, they came over a large hill of scrap gathered by the greenskins.  
"My squad should set up in heavy cover, commander. Our supressive fire will keep the greenskins pinned." proposed Avitus, and Azarius nodded. The Marines quickly set up the biggest pile of metal plating they could find, and the the Devastators lined up behind the tallest part of it.

From the hamlet came another ork mob, thrice bigger than the last. "Suppressive fire, keep them from charging!" shouted Avitus as the Devastators opened fire. Rockets blasted huge holes into the ork formation and blasts of plasma vapourised them. Avitus roared "Come on greenskins, show me your fury!" as he pumped shot after shot into the howling sea of green faces. No matter how much the Devastators killed, the orks kept coming, oblivious to casualties.  
"Frag Grenades!" ordered Tarkus as the orks come in a hundred meters of the Marine line, and the brothers threw a volley of Fragmentation grenades at the orks. The front wave disintegrated into chunks of bloody viscera, and the orks charge slowed down. However a squad of twenty Nobz came roaring to the front supported by Flash Gitz, and the ork advance regained its fury. As they closed with their target, their fire started to hit the barricades and the marines behind them.

"Blind them!" ordered Cyrus, and the Scouts threw Blind grenades at the ork elite. The Blind Grenades were a combination of Flashbang, Sonic, EMP and smoke grenades designed to blind and deafen both organic and mechanical senses.  
"Concentrate Fire!" yelled Avitus, as the Nobz and Gitz faltered in confusion. The Devastators and Tacticals unleashed their wrath upon the greenskin elite, cutting the disoriented orks down. Nobz roared impotently and lashed out blindly as bolter shell after shell slammed into them until their mangled corpses fell to the blood soaked sand.  
Tacitus and Flavius hurled Demolition charges into the orks on the nobz's sides, which coupled with the fire of the Devastators, pulverised the entire front and middle section of the ork assault.

"Break the barbaric wretches and send them crawling into the desert to die!" commented Avitus, who now, after a few hundred killed orks, seemed to become happier. Or as happy as Avitus could be. Only two hundred orks were still standing, and the Astartes abandoned their barricade and charged. A few greenskins attacked, while others tried to flee. The marines swiftly overtook them, and Azarius plunged into the melee.  
He had been waiting for this for far too long, and his eyes were shining with zeal. "Come and die on my blade, scum!" he roared as he chopped and sweeped the Ardent Wrath around himself in great arcs, cutting through shoota barrels, ork torsoes and armour with equal ease.  
The Devastators and Tacticals were firing into the orks' back, showing no mercy and killing without remorse. The Scouts took care of any ork they missed and knifed the wounded orks which still lived.

As the last ork fell, the Astartes reached the Hamlet. It had a guard tower similar to the one Cyrus blew up, and a lot of defensive walls were still in place.  
"Commander, there is a second Teleporter relay near your position. Activate it to finish securing the Hamlet!" came the voice of Captain Thule over the vox. The Devastators quickly brought out a Teleporter beacon hidden in the nearby rocks, and the Marines refilled their share of ammuniton.  
"Excellent work commander, the Hamlet is secure. More orks are on the way commander. Set up your forces to repel the attack. This Hamlet must not fall again." ordered the Captain.  
Azarius inspected the Hamlet, and analyzed the situation with his enhanced brain and mind in a split second. "Avitus, deploy your squad in the tower. Tarkus, use those walls for cover. Cyrus, hide your scouts in those nearby rocks and stay ready for ambushing the greenskins! I'll support Squad Tarkus." declared Azarius.

A swarm of three hundred orks approached. The greenskins, apparently more cautious than their late fellows ,learned not to show their heads and took advantage of the farest ruined walls. "Hadrius, Tiberius, take those walls apart!" yelled Avitus. The marines fired bolts of plasma and krak missiles into the walls, pulverising and boiling stone and orks alike.  
"Good work Avitus, they have nowhere to run now!" commented Tarkus, as his squad decimated the now defenseless greenskins. "Target them before they can get into cover again!" he added as the surivors started to crawl towards other walls.

A smaller mob of two hundred orks appeared from behind a giant rock near the Scouts. "They are trying to flank us!" reported Cyrus as his Initiates opened fire. "Redeploy brothers!" ordered Tarkus, and the Tacticals joined the Scouts behind the rock pile, and added their weight of fire to the Scouts'.  
"My Faith is my shield, my Fury is my sword!" yelled Azarius as he charged into the orks, slicing with his sword and firing his bolt pistol point blank into ork bodies. The bolter shells passed through the first orks, and exploded into the bodies of those behind them.  
As he ran out of bolter shells, he used his pistol as a club, smashing heads and breaking bones with the bulky gun.  
He kicked out, sending an ork into the ground and stomped, feeling ribs break beneath his boots. He beheaded one ork, and plunged the blade into the chest of another behind it with the same motion. Kommandos with a big shootas pumped lead into him, so he activated his Iron Halo to be sure.

Even in the middle of the slaugher, he was still aware of the combat situation. Julius, Hadrius and Tiberius were killing the orks on the outer edges of the mob, not risking to hit the commander.  
The other Astartes were firing into the orks with careful aims. Except for Caedus, who unleashed his flamer into the middle of the ork horde.  
The white hot flame of promethium washed over Azarius and charred the orks around him into ash and cinders. The ork horde was depleted, and controlled bursts of bolter fire finished off the last stragglers.

"Hey, watch out for the commander!" Scout Varius called out in alarm. "It is all right, do not worry brother." said Azarius. Even without his Iron Halo, a flamer could have not damaged a Space Marine in a fully enclosed power armour.  
Although part of Azarius wished that Caedus had left him to slaughter all of the orks himself, he knew that it was only battle rage. The flamer could not have hurt him, and the taint of the xeno scum needed to be cleansed anyway .  
"Sorry commander, it will not happen again." apologised Caedus, his stance betraying nervousness, but Azarius nodded him his thanks. "We wear helmets for a reason, but next time remember that it is always wise to conserve promethium, because we can never know when we are going to need it brother." replied Azarius.

The tactical marine relaxed visibly. Some Astartes commanders, especially those of the more headstrong Chapters, might have been insulted if some interrupted their killing, but Azarius did not take offense over who got to kill a few more greenskins.  
All that mattered that their duty was done and the enemy was dead. It did not matter how much each marine killed, as long as they fought with all their skill and fury.  
"Well done, Space Marines. Thunderhawks are on approach to return you to the Armageddon." said Captain Thule over the vox.  
"Lets burn the orks while we wait for the Hawks, borthers!" ordered Azarius, and soon the black smoke of burning bodies stood as a testament to their victory.


	5. Chapter 5

The Aurelian Crusade, Day 2

Target:Gutrencha, Tangier High Pass

The Tactical Command chapel on the bridge of the Armageddon was quite crowded after Azarius and his Sergeants arrived. Captain Thule had summoned them after he received a distress call from the Tangier Pass, where the orks have attacked a Communications Array.  
„Commander, the orks have struck another valuable target." said Thule, as the holo-map zoomed in to the Pass.  
„A powerful ork chieftain named Gutrencha is leading the assault, but someone must have pointed him at this target- likely without his even knowing it.  
Take your squads and eliminate this beast before he does more damage. Keep on the lookout for clues as to who may be manipulating him."  
„As you will, my lord." Answered the Astartes around him, before making the sign of the Aquila.  
Thule's unease deepened as he watched the marines leaving the bridge. A cunning and malevolent intellect was guiding the orks, but he felt that its origin did not lie with the greenkins.

Orbital scans had indicated a clear drop zone area in the Tangier Pass, a maze of valleys and canyons that held the Communication station. Azarius and Squad Cyrus took one drop pod, and Squads Tarkus and Avitus took their own pods.  
„Remain ever-vigilant, brothers. The Captain suspects outside influence on these orks, so be prepared for the unexpected. Purge the alien!" Said Tarkus over the vox.

Azarius prayed to the War Spirit of the Growling Hate, the sacred chainsword of Vidya which he vowed to bathe it in a sea of ork blood when he was given access to it in the Armoury. It was a rare honour that a non-psyker marine would wield this blade.  
It was a masterpiece of Imperial technology, a dark red blade inlaid with golden chains, eagles and skulls, no doubt the lifelong work of many master artificiers.  
High Gothic runes of power were etched into the adamantium blade-teeth of the sword, containing ancient spells of dreadful potency. It was said that the Great Father himself had imbued this weapon with the Light of the Emperor, and the weapon certainly did possess an unnatural deadliness.  
When activated, a faint shimmer of golden halo surrounded the blade of the weapon, a power field that would disintegrate any material upon touch.  
The hilt, decorated by ancient Purity Seals, held the power core which glowed with blinding light..

Azarius called up the map display from his armour's Machine Spirit, evaluating the best course of attack.  
„Brothers! We will retake the Array first, and secure it before assassinating Gutrencha. He is well defended in his horde, but his location in square with only two exit points will allow us to channel the orks into the narrow paths and bleed his forces dry. We will lay their blood at the Emperor's feet!" he declared. „In the name of the Emperor and Vidya!" replied the brethren in unison as the drop pods launched.

The drop pods were flying fifty meters apart, almost next to each other in terms of flight. Their hulls glowed with the heat of re-entry as they plunged straight to the surface of the planet. After four seconds, the repulsor fields activated, and the drop pods slowed down in unison, their impact cracking the stone as they landed.

„Secure and advance!" Azarius commanded as the ramps of the pods deployed. The voice of Captain Thule came through the vox „Gutrencha's location is marked on your map display, commander. You will need to fight through the orks defending him." Azarius relayed the coordinates to his marines „Acknowledged, Captain."

A hut and a few dozens of gretchin looting it were in the area, and the marines attacked with their customary fury, scaring the gretchin into flight. The grots fled in every direction, screaming in terror and running in every direction. They did not last for long, but a few of them managed to reach the outskirts of a small trade settlement.  
„Run fer ya hides!" screamed on of them, just before an iron-shod foot caught it in the stomach, sending the miserable creature into the ranks of the marines, where Asmodeus kicked it repeatedly.

„Stop runnin ya gits! Ya look like skared umiez!" bellowed a Nob. „Mehreen boyz for shootin! Hah hah, diz is gonna be FUN!" the ork laughed with delight, and fired his kustom shoota at the Astartes. Its mob, a hundred ork boyz wielding shootas, bellowed their customary „WAAAAGH!" and „Dakka dakka!" as they poured volley after volley of lead towards the humans.

„Scouts, take cover!" yelled Cyrus, and the initiates slipped into the cover of the boulders ever-present on Calderis. „Evasion pattern delta-one." Ordered Tarkus and his squad too took cover as lead bullets pinged off their battle plate. „Death to the Greenskin!" said Azarius, as he drew the Left hand of Gabriel, and aimed at the nob. His aim was true, and the bolt sped towards the head of the ork, only to detonate as a kustom force field stopped it.

His brethren took his example, and Julius fired his plasma gun. A bolt of incandescent heat pierced the force field, and evaporated the orks torso. Its carbonised arms fell to the ground steaming, but its kin were too busy dying to notice its demise. The bolters of the marines wrecked a terrible havoc amongst the orks, sending gouts of body fluids and bone fragments into the air with every explosion. „Foul Greenskins!" cursed Avitus as his Devastators started pouring fire into the ork ranks.

„Onwards to victory!" ordered Azarius, and the marines began charging towards the swiftly diminishing ork ranks. Azarius drew the Growling Hate, and the blades roared into life with a threatening rumble. The sound of the blade was too much for the already nervous survivors, and the orks began to flee towards the Array. The marines followed in their wake , pumping shell after shell of bolter fire into their backs.

„Prepare for assault, brothers!" said Tarkus as the marines neared the Array. It was on an isolated plateau north-east of the first settlement, and a thousand greenskins camped near it. They were busy fortifying the place, and the Array looked undamaged. Mobs of Ork Lootas occupied the nearby bunker, and PDF troopers stewed in cauldrons. Two narrow stone bridges connected it to the main plateau.  
Azarius outlaid his plan „Cyrus, infiltrate the ork base from the rear bridge and blow up that bunker. Tarkus and I will draw out the orks to distract them. Avitus will lay covering fire for our distraction. " Cyrus and his squad faded into their surroundings as their camo-cloaks activated. „It will be done." Subvocalised Cyrus.

Squads Avitus, Tarkus and Azarius approached the nearest bridge. Azarius holstered his pistol and drew Ardent Wrath in his left hand. He ignited his Jump packs and made a short leap near the bridge. Tarkus deployed his squad in cover of rocks west of the bridge, where they could shoot at the orks without their commander blocking the way. Avitus placed his Devastators to the east side, where they would have an open line of sight towards the ork mob.  
The orks were delighted at the „flying umie", and they charged in mass towards the bridge. So great was their haste, that some had been pushed off the cliffs as they all tried to be the first into the fray.

The Devastators opened fire, thinning the ork ranks as the greenskins advanced towards Azarius. Hadrius and Tiberius took a fearsome tally of the orks with frag missile and plasma blasts killing thirty orks with each hit as the orks could only approach the bridge in a crowded line.  
Precise bolter fire from the Tacticals lashed out into the horde, felling the orks carrying heavy weaponry. „Microgrenades into their rear!" yelled Tarkus, and the marines took out two small egg shaped explosives from their grenade dispensers. The Ravens threw the grenades with their Astartes strength, and the small explosives flew into the orks at the other side of the crevasse.  
The grenades exploded amongst the orks, monomolecular edged shrapnel tearing off limbs and cooking off ammunition.

„All sinners fear the Emperor's Wrath!" roared Azarius as he charged into the massed orks. He lashed out with Ardent Wrath, cutting an ork in two with its crackling blue energy. He swung the Growling Hate in a great arc and the holy blade glowed with sanctity as it cleaved the orks .  
Searing golden light exploded as it hit the greenskins before him, the chainblades igniting the foul flesh of the orks as they tore the victims apart. The orks died instantly as the arcane weapon rent their flesh.  
Melee with the orks was brutal business requiring more strength than skill, and Azarius chopped and slashed all that stood before him. No ordinary ork could halt his blades, and his holy chainsword seemed to growl more loudly with every greenskin slain.  
The xenos died in droves, and those who took a step backwards plunged down into the chasm below.

After three minutes of bloody slaughter, the bridge was free of ork taint. The bigger part of the ork horde stood on the opposite side, and looked confused. Azarius stood defiant, his chainblade pointed at the orks. „Come, show me what passes for fury amongst your misbegotten kind!"  
Bellows of rage and sounds of fighting greeted his challenge, and the chaos amongst the ork ranks increased. The slugga boys in the front were suddenly tossed aside, and nine large nobs pushed their lesser kin aside, each roaring in bestial fury.

„For the Emperor!" Azarius answered, activating his Iron Halo, and leapt to meet the orks with his jump pack. He crushed into them like a thunderbolt, his swords drawing blood. He felt the rush of combat hormones as he stabbed the Growling Hate into the nearest ork. The sword cut through its 20 centimeters thick steel armour as if it were paper, and tore the ork's chest apart. He parried a chainaxe with the Ardent Wrath, and the blade cut through the weapon and bit into the ork's neck behind it.  
He stepped right as an ork tried to chop him down, and lashed out in return, severing the orks hand. The ork managed to held the weapon with its other hand, and it slashed at Azarius, who parried with his powersword. He swung the Growling Hate at another ork, which came at him with a large hammer.  
Azarius lashed out, and the hammer shattered as the Growling Hate hit it. The chainsword swept downwards towards the ork, disintegrating its skull and bisecting its torso in a blink of an eye.

As the nobs assaulted Azarius, the rest of the horde regrouped and tried to press into the bridge. „Frag grenade!" ordered Tarkus, and the Tacticals hurled the large heavy fragmentation grenades into the massed orks. The blast was devastating, greenskins exploded into ragged patches of flesh and others were tossed into the air.  
Two hundred orks died instantly, and a hundred more was crippled.  
Brother Caedus watched the squad's rear, vigilant for any stray orks, as his flamer was useless at this range. Julius blasted burning holes into the orks while Vindictus, Asmodeus and Invictus shot into the greenskin mass, their bolts tearing off heads and exploding bodies in fountains of gore.

„Enemy armour incoming, take it out before it closes!" voxed Avitus as an ork tank of unknown origin started pushing through the greenskin ranks. Hadrius aimed his missile launcher, and selected the Krak missile. He set the missile's flight to arc over the orks into the tank's turret and fired. The missile rocketed out of the launcher with eye blurring speed and hit the ork turret. The explosion tore off the turret and ignited the fuel of the vehicle, which detonated shortly after the hit to schorch the unfortunate orks nearby.

„Emperor, guide my aim!" prayed Tarkus as he aimed his bolter and fired. His shell hit one of the nobs trying to kill the commander, and it blasted the orks neck apart. Tarkus aimed for another shot and hit a one-armed ork in the back. The greenskin stumbled as its spine shattered, and its nearest fellow kicked it into the abyss. Another cleaver wielding nob took its place, and Tarkus shot again, this time hitting the ork in the head, covering its surroundings in grey brain matter and bone fragments.  
„Keep them from regrouping!" ordered Avitus, as he and Lucanus sprayed the orks with a steady stream of heavy bolter shells.  
Tarkus tried to get a clear shot at the other nobs, but they were too close to Azarius now. He switched to killing the other orks still reeling from the grenade blast.

Only three nobs remained, and Azarius was becoming impatient. The Growling Hate felt like no other sword, and its eager craving for blood infected him too. He charged, stabbing Ardent Wrath into the head of the nearest ork. The greenskins brain was sliced in half alongside its skull, and it toppled into the ground. He swung his chainsword towards the next ork, cutting through its axe and tearing it in two. The last nob roared in anger, and it launched itself at Azarius, trying to hurl him off the bridge.  
He ducked to the right and slashed with his powersword, slicing through the orks legs. The beast fell on its chest and tried to push itself up and attack him again. What the orks lacked in agility and intelligence, they made up for it with a strength and resilience much like Astartes. However Azarius was not about to give the ork a fair fight, and he kicked it off the bridge. The fight was crude, but it was a test of strength that left him invigorated with the joy of battle „Killing orks is fine work, brothers!" he declared, and checked how Cyrus was doing on his helmet's visor display.

The Scouts crept silently towards the ork bunker. The commander's diversion was working, and the main body of the ork force was either trying to get to the bridge, or to get back from it. The bunker was a squat circular structure with windows recently widened by the Lootas, who became restless as they were excluded from the fun of battle.  
Cyrus signalled to the Scouts to take cover. He took a demolition charge from his back, and aimed at the window of the bunker. The Lootas would learn the folly of making large holes into a bunker. After throwing the charge Cyrus took cover quickly. He knew that orks loved stacking explosives in bunkers. They did not dissapoint him this time.  
The bunker exploded with a great yellow fireball, killing most the orks and sending rockslides down into the chasms below.

„Break them now!" yelled Azarius as he saw the great explosion. The wall of flame rolled over him, but he was far from the explosion and the shockwave was already spent on the ork mass.  
Squad Tarkus followed him as they charged towards the few surviving greenskins. The orks tried to fight back, but they were already injured and stood no chance at all.  
Cyrus and his Scouts appeared like ghosts from the smoke, and began dispatching the greenskins in their path. „The orks have stacked an extraordinary amount of explosives in the bunker. They might have been trying to blow the Array." Reported Cyrus, whose hair looked a little singed.  
As the marines inspected the Array, Tarkus saw that it was almost unscathed. „Communications Array secured." he voxed to the Armageddon. „Deploying generators and defences." answered Martellus.

White contrails of Thunderhawks appeared in the sky, and two Gunships swooped down towards the Array. They halted within only thirty meters from the ground, and started to deploy three plasma generators and a dozen Tarantula sentries armed mostly with heavy bolters.  
When their task was complete, the Gunships settled down onto the ground, and disgorged fifty serf troopers and eight Tech-Adepts with a Techpriest. A few PDF and local Mechanicus personnel had managed to survive the orks by hiding inside sealed chambers.  
The marines replenished their ammunition, and prepared for the assault on Gutrencha's main horde.

In five minutes every marine was ready, and they pushed north to meet the main ork horde.  
Azarius lead the way, and after a few minutes the marines tensed as their keen senses picked up the scent of orks. „Stormboys! Look to the skies, brothers!" yelled Cyrus, and the marines took cover next to the rocky wall of the canyon and aimed their guns on the sky, except for Azarius, who activated his Iron Halo and stepped out into the middle to meet the orks.

The roar of rockets intensified and the Stormboys descended towards the marines. These orks were elite shock troops, wielding chainblades and jetpacks. The Astartes fired their bolters with calm precision, picking off orks and blowing up rockets. It was imperative not to let the the Stormboys close to the Devastators and Scouts, and Azarius fired his jetpack to get the orks attention.  
Most of the orks fell for the trick and changed course towards the commander, and those who did not were picked off by the Tacticals and Scouts.

„Stomp da umies!" yelled one of the boys as they crashed into Azarius. The Astartes braced himself and held out his swords to cut the orks, but the force of the impact was too great and he fell to the ground with several orks crashing into him. The orks were raging in their lust to kill, and did not care to defend themselves, only to chop the human.  
Azarius slashed upwards with his blades and tried to rise, but he was trapped under several tangled ork bodies, which he started to kick off before the other orks could take advantage of his immobilisation.  
The remaining Stormboys slashed and chopped at him, and all he could do in his position was to parry as many blows as he could and trust in his shield to hold as he tried to dislodge himself.

When he was finally clear of ork bodies, he kicked again into the nearest orks, buying enough time to get to his feet. The stormboys attacked him with undiminished fury, but now Azarius was no longer hampered by his position, and he started rending the orks with a furry of savage blows. Being trapped under the ork bodies was more frustrating than terrifying for a marine, and he took his fury to the orks responsible.

Azarius slashed his swords in great arcs, chopping through his enemies without respite until the orks finally lay still in a heap of mangled corpses.

„Area secure, commander!" reported Tarkus, and the Space marines marched towards north again, closing on their prey. After a minute they came to the end of an abandoned town creeping with ork sentries. „This appears to be the edge of the main mob. Gutrencha must be near. We must drew out his horde first before we can face him. Take your positions and prepare for glory!" voxed Azarius as the Astartes took up their firing position at the entrance to the village.  
„Give the signal, Brother Tiberius." ordered Azarius, and the Devastator fired his Plasma Cannon into the large warehouse west of their position. The sandstone building melted into glass, scattering molten shrapnel across the whole outpost. The orks quickly realised that a good fight was in the making, and soon the whole ork mob was pouring out into the village  
from nearby canyons.

„Pin them down!" ordered Avitus as the orks started running towards the Ravens. He fired his Heavy Bolter into the oncoming horde, where every shell exploded with mutilating force. Lucanus joined him, firing spread volleys of shells into the ork mass, trying to cover as much area as possible to suppress the greenskins.  
Tiberius and Hadrius concentrated their fire where the ork ranks were the densest, providing ideal targets for their weaponry. Allectus used his Lascannon in a way only warriors with the skills of the Astartes could, using the anti-tank weapon to cut through the horde of infantry. The bright lances of laser fire speared through the ork ranks, leaving tunnels of charred meat in the ork army as the greenskins closed.

„Frag grenades on my mark before suppression fire!" called Tarkus, and a second later the Tacticals threw their grenades into the ork ranks, where the heavy explosives ripped great holes. The Tacticals added their own veritable firepower to the Devastators, concentrating their fury on the orks closest to the Astartes line.  
„Seek redemption in the blood of your enemies!" roared Avitus as his heavy bolter fire took apart a mob of Lootas, who died in a firestorm as their ammunition cooked off.

Cyrus and his Scouts took up positions behind a nearby wall, and threw Blind grenades whenever a big ork mob neared the line of the Space Marines. Decius and Cyrus put their Sniper Rifles to good use, felling ork leaders with every shot, while Tacitus and Varianus fired their Bolters into the ork mob. Flavius and Severus acted as grenadiers while the orks remained outside the range of their shotguns.

The closing ork mob was shooting at the marines, and Scouts were forced to stick close to the wall as their lighter Carapace armour was not proof against the ork onslaught. A thousand orks lay dead, but at least five thousand more remained. „Brothers, prepare for orbital bombardment!" yelled Azarius, and his Brothers instantly shifted into heavier cover. „Azarius to Armageddon. Lock on to my signal and commence precision bombardment pattern Purgatus at the marked coordinates. The Emperor is righteous." Scrolls of data appeared on the edge of his vision as his armour connected to the Strike Cruiser. „Armageddon to Commander Azarius. Ork horde located and targeted. Graviton Pulsars firing in 10 seconds. Death to the Xenos!"

After six seconds, ten beams of yellow glow appeared above the ork horde. The orks grunted in confusion as the lights intensified and they were pulled up into the air towards the blue spears of laser fire at the beams' cores. The gravitic fields grew in power, drawing more orks into the beams until thousands of them floated in the air. The laser beams became brighter in every second, and soon the orks closest to the center were burned into dust.  
Suddenly pulses of incandescent energy enveloped the beams, searing the horde into ash. As the pulses reached the surface, shaped explosions erupted on the ground, tossing the few surviving orks away with lethal force and clearing the area of any debris.

The ork horde was gone, but by the mysteries of the Omnissiah, the rocky ground of the village was only melted into glass and mildly cratered. Graviton Pulsar bombardment batteries were designed to clear areas of enemy forces while limiting the damage to the surroundings as much as possible. „Now is our chance to kill Gutrencha! Advance!" ordered Azarius, and the marines pressed north again, towards a market square surrounded by cliffs.  
A few scattered orks tried to fight, but they were killed effortlessly.

As the Astartes neared the square, Azarius held up a hand and voxed „Cyrus, scout ahead and scan their defences!". Cyrus and his Scouts activated their Camo cloaks, and their shapes disappeared towards the enemy. „Commander, Gutrencha is here. fourteen nobs are coming towards our position. Shall we kill them?" asked Cyrus. „Let them close and ambush them as they attack us." answered Azarius.

The Space Marines unleashed their fury as the Nobs appeared, careful not to hit the shadows that clinged to the canyon wall. As the nobs closed, shotgun and bolter fire erupted from above as the Scouts sprung their trap. The deadly crossfire was so confusing that the ork charge lost its momentum, and the Nobs were gunned down before they could land a blow upon the Ravens. „Concentrate on his followers. I shall deal with this boss myself" said Azarius.

Gutrencha was waiting for them on the square, a gigantic brute even by orkish standards. He was at least four meters tall and armoured in plates torn from tanks. The chainaxe he wielded was larger than an adult human. He turned his helmeted head towards the approaching Astartes and growled in mangled Gothic „Ya got frough me boyz, didja? Guess I got to kill ya meself!" The rest of the strike force began to kill the orks that tried to get into the square, leaving the boss to the Commander.

„Come then, face me alone if you dare!" shouted Azarius, and raised both his swords at the boss. Gutrencha grinned, and charged towards Azarius, swinging his chainaxe. The commander ran towards the ork too, his swords slashing to intercept the axe. The weapons impacted with the sound of thunder, but the ork was protected by some kind of shield, and his weapon remained intact. Gutrencha kicked out, knocking Azarius five meters backwards.

„No fancy kit gonna save ya!" he chuckled as he threw a large bomb at Azarius, who had to ignite his jetpack to get clear before the bomb went off.

„Concentrate fire!" signalled Avitus, and the Astartes began to fire at the boss from their cover at the edge of the square. The shield held firm against the bolter fire, until Allectus hit it with his Lascannon. Azarius fired his jetpack and leapt at Gutrencha, while Avitus and Tarkus redirected the bolter fire into the nearby orks again.

„For the Emperor!" yelled Azarius as he lashed out towards Gutrencha, and his brothers took up the iconic battlecry. The ork evaded the Ardent Wrath, but the Growling Hate stuck its chainaxe, and shattered the head into pieces. Gutrencha roared and tried to club Azarius down with the ruined weapon, but the Astartes was faster, stepping aside and swinging his power sword in a cleaving arc, cutting off the ork's arm and cutting a deep red line into his chest. „Die!" snarled Azarius as he stabbed the Growling Hate deep into Gutrencha's chest.

The ork boss swayed and than toppled onto the ground „Whut, I'm not boss no more? Ah zog it!" he gurgled as Azarius ripped the chainsword from his chest upwards into the ork's head.  
„The ork scum is dead at last!" remarked Avitus as he shot the greenskins that still tried to enter the square, but after the death of the boss most of the few remaining orks fled.  
„Ready for extraction, commander." reported Tarkus when the last of the orks fell dead into the cracked ground of the square.

Azarius voxed the Armageddon „This is Commander Azarius to Armageddon. Thunderhawk extraction requested and Purification pattern Delta Scorced earth bombing advised on target area."

„Thunderhawks dispatched, commander. Prepare your brothers, another ork raiding force attacked while you were fighting Gutrencha." answered Captain Thule.

I am sorry for the long update time, university takes most of my of time.


End file.
